Wow - thanks for the suggestions everyone! Lilsprout - I have that creeping sedum in a few other spots! Can't believe it never occurred to me put some here! Pwin - love both of those but I'm pretty fond of that spirea. I'll look into that for sure! mnwsgal - I've got lady's mantle (thriller) just planted it. Always loved it! samhain10 and nirenjoshi - love the dark towers - its perfect for what I'm looking for! amna - I have both creeping thyme and creeping jenny in different beds or containers but never thought of growing them together. My apprehension from creeping jenny is that I've heard they can get a little carried away in a garden. What's your experience? princessgrace79 - I LOVE that Lysimachia firecracker! I'm definitely looking into this one. Do you grow it? Pictures? :) Dee - thanks for the suggestions. I love that weigela - I'll have to check out that thread and do a search for your other purple thread. I have Obsidian and love it so I might be getting more! a2zmom - I'm really starting love this Dark Towers. And those coreopsis are beautiful. Which ones are they? I have a small coreopsis I just planted ($0.99 starter plant - I can't find the name but it kind of looks like cosmic eye). Also love lobelias, and still might get some for a different garden, but I'm trying to stick to shades of purple and yellow flowers in this area. wantonamara - always liked false shamrocks. I'll have to read into them and see if they're hardy here and find a nice spot for them. sandyslope - There are a few dark foliage sedums that I've seen and love (Lydia Windsor is one, I think). I also love Sweet Kate. I have some "regular" spiderswort and love it thought I wouldn't call it "well behaved" here lol THANKS FOR ALL THE SUGGESTIONS - KEEP UM COMING! :)

I have a hard time getting rid of any plants. I have ambitious plans this fall to redo and expand my main sunny garden bed, so I have been thinking about potential SP candidates though. Red Hot Poker lily. Started from seed. Very short bloom period and the rest of the year has long, floppy, unattractive leaves. I might just move to a less visible spot though. Kind of my solution for every under performing plant. Sweet Intoxication Roses (two!). Boy , these things are just pitiful. But even their piddly, disease ridden, japanese beetle infested flowers smell great. I am going to give them one more year. Considering NOT growing annual snapdragon, cleome or nasturtiums anymore. I love these flowers, but they all have problems here. Snapdragons are apparently favored by four lined plant bug which does horrendous foliar damage in the spring. Cleomes and flea beetles, ugh! And my nasturtiums...I think my soil is just too high in clay for them. I have a tradescantia with bright pink flowers that gets red spider mites every year. Tradscantia Sweet kate doesn't have this same problem. I already SP one clump of the pink flowering one and the second clump will probably go soon too. A clump of orange/marooon asiatic lilies. These are prolific multipliers, but they fade quickly and aren't all that attractive. My biggest SP candidate is a crab apple tree planted by the previous owners far too close to the foundation. Beautiful spring display...but has to be cut back every year to avoid scraping our roof plus this year is has started to grow in front of our living room window. With all the cutting back needed on it, a painful to look at contorted silhouette has developed. Also the japanese beeltes love it. The front yard needs a big redo IMO anyways as it relies heavily on spirea which are currently covered in crispy brown flower heads. But, I probably won't actually tackle this project until spring or next fall.

Depending where in zone 7 you are, Abelia will remain evergreen to semi-evergreen in winter. That can be a big plus over spirea. You don't say how large or small your shrubs should be. In my yard Abelia 'Twist of Lime' has better coloration than Kaliedascope. Twist of Lemon might be comparable to 'Twist of Lime'. All colored Abelias need good sun for color. If you don't have deer issues, another really nice low spreading shrub is Euonymus fortunei 'Roemertwo' ('Gold Splash' is the trademark name) -- if you can find it. It can look good even with some shade. Prune to keep dense maybe twice a year.

Mazerolm, I grew one of the plants on your list - Iris ‘Pink Parfait’ this year. It has large double blooms, and lots of them, but it is most definitely not pink. I planted it next to spirea ‘Magic Carpet’ thinking the pinks might look together but I wasn’t thrilled with the combination. This was just as it was opening and I didn’t take any later ones. It will get moved to a better place in the fall.